Day 6–No Response from CUNY Union Pres.

Tuesday at 3:40 p.m. I sent an open letter to Barbara Bowen, president of the Professional Staff Congress, CUNY’s union, with the subject line “Open letter re your De Blasio statement & your exclusion of adjuncts and graduate student workers.” I copied the union’s first vice-president, treasurer, vice-president for part-time personnel, and executive director on the email, all people we Adjunct Project coordinators have worked with, or attempted to work with, this academic year. I also copied 11 of the 12 members of the newly reconstituted (and elected) Graduate Center chapter slate, omitting one member because I couldn’t find an email for that person. Finally, I copied two higher education officers (HEOs) at the Graduate Center, one of whom is a cross-campus officer on the executive council of the union, both of whom, working together, put together the Graduate Center slate (with no input solicited from the Adjunct Project).

There have been three responses from these 18 people to date, the most recent of which came from a member of the Graduate Center chapter slate, Michelle Fine, who emailed yesterday that she was speaking with graduate students, adjuncts, and other members of the slate about the issues raised in the open letter. We welcomed this info. (See a previous update for details of the two earlier responses.)

Additionally, another member of the Graduate Center chapter slate, Michelle Chen, who was not among the original recipients of the letter because I couldn’t find her email address, has signed the letter.

I am now sending the letter again to the aforementioned recipients, plus Chen (as I now have her email address), along with the names and affiliations of the 153 signers.

The union leaders and chapter leaders are supposed to represent us. It’s not the other way around.

Read and sign the letter here, or leave a comment here with your name and affiliation (if you have one).

There are now 153 of us, from across CUNY and the U.S., inside and outside of higher ed.

Day 5–No Response from CUNY Union Pres.

Tuesday at 3:40 p.m. I sent an open letter to Barbara Bowen, president of the Professional Staff Congress, CUNY’s union, with the subject line “Open letter re your De Blasio statement & your exclusion of adjuncts and graduate student workers.” I copied the union’s first vice-president, treasurer, vice-president for part-time personnel, and executive director on the email, all people we Adjunct Project coordinators have worked with, or attempted to work with, this academic year. I also copied 11 of the 12 members of the newly reconstituted (and elected) Graduate Center chapter slate, omitting one member because I couldn’t find an email for that person. Finally, I copied two higher education officers (HEOs) at the Graduate Center, one of whom is a cross-campus officer on the executive council of the union, both of whom, working together, put together the Graduate Center slate (with no input solicited from the Adjunct Project).

There have been two responses from these 18 people to date (see the last update for details).

Additionally, a member of the Graduate Center chapter slate, who was not one of the recipients of the letter because I couldn’t find her email address, has signed the letter.

I am now sending the letter again to the aforementioned recipients, plus the Graduate Center chapter slate member who signed the letter (as I now have her email address), along with the names and affiliations of the 147 signers.

The union leaders and chapter leaders are supposed to represent us. It’s not the other way around.

Read and sign the letter here, or leave a comment here, or email me at kennedy [dot] sean [at] gmail [dot] com.

There are now 147 of us, from across CUNY and the U.S., inside and outside of higher ed.

$5K Per Course Must Be Bottom-Line Contract Demand

What is needed is to take steps that concretely improve the situation of the majority of the instructional staff suffering the effects of the two-tier labor system. The Professional Staff Congress has formally endorsed the national campaign calling for a minimum starting salary of $5000 per three-credit semester course. We hereby call on the PSC leadership to make a formal commitment that the $5K demand will be a bottom-line demand in the current contract negotiations. Any proposed contract that does not include this should be rejected out of hand.

We invite all our fellow union members to sign and help circulate this call.

To sign this call, leave a comment here with your name and CUNY affiliation(s). Thanks!

Signed by:

Makeba Lavan, Graduate Center, CUNY

Erica Chutuape, Hunter College, CUNY

Sándor John, Hunter College, CUNY

Jennifer Chancellor, Graduate Center, CUNY

Sean M. Kennedy, Graduate Center, CUNY

Luke Elliott, Graduate Center, CUNY

Cindy Gorn, CUNY

James D. Hoff, Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY

Elizabeth Bidwell Goetz, Hunter College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Rafael A. Mutis​, Hostos Community College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Velina Manolova, Graduate Center, CUNY

Elizabeth Sibilia, Graduate Center, CUNY

Wendy Tronrud, Graduate Center, CUNY

Dadland Maye, Graduate Center, CUNY

Öykü Tekten, Graduate Center, CUNY

R. Josh Scannell, Graduate Center, CUNY

Preeti Sampat, Graduate Center, CUNY

Peter Matt, Brooklyn College, CUNY

Debangshu Roychoudhury, Graduate Center, CUNY

Monique Whitaker, Hunter College, CUNY

Jennifer Prince, Graduate Center, CUNY

Esther Bernstein, Graduate Center, CUNY

Héctor Agredano, City College, Bronx Community College, and Graduate Center, CUNY

Collette Sosnowy, JustPublics@365, Graduate Center, CUNY

Megan Paslawski, Graduate Center, CUNY

Kristen Hackett, Graduate Center, CUNY

Fang Xu, Lehman College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Christina Nadler, Graduate Center, CUNY

Kristin Moriah, Graduate Center, CUNY

James Anthony Phillips, Kingsborough Community College, CUNY

Tristan K. Husby, City College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Erin Michaels, Graduate Center, CUNY

Cameron Pearson, Queens College, CUNY

David Tillyer, City College, CUNY

Amy Martin, Graduate Center, CUNY

Colin P. Ashley, Doctoral Students’ Council Co-Chair for Business, Graduate Center, CUNY

Ian Foster, Graduate Center, CUNY

Melissa Phruksachart, Graduate Center, CUNY

Maureen E. Fadem, Kingsborough Community College, CUNY

Alec Magnet, Graduate Center, CUNY

Erin M. Andersen, Graduate Center, CUNY

Ashna Ali, Graduate Center, CUNY

Michael A. Rumore, Graduate Center, CUNY

Conor Tomás Reed, Medgar Evers College and Graduate Center, CUNY; Free University-NYC

Kathryn Moss, Graduate Center, CUNY

David Spataro, Graduate Center, CUNY

Kenneth H. Ryesky, Queens College, CUNY

Alan Trevithick, La Guardia Community College, CUNY

Ann Kottner, York College, CUNY

Mary Carroll, Lehman College, CUNY

Linda Neiberg, Baruch College, CUNY

Brian Unger, Graduate Center, CUNY

Ian Green, Graduate Center, CUNY

Eric Lott, Graduate Center, CUNY

John Sorrentino, John Jay College, CUNY

Allison E. Brown, Graduate Center, CUNY

Rayya El Zein, Medgar Evers College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Melissa K. Marturano, Brooklyn College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Dominique Nisperos, Graduate Center, CUNY

Amanda Matles, Graduate Center, CUNY

Lavelle Porter, City Tech and  Graduate Center, CUNY

Lauren Tenley, College of Staten Island, CUNY

Mary N. Taylor, Graduate Center, CUNY

Edwin Mayorga, Graduate Center, CUNY

Charlotte Thurston, Graduate Center, CUNY

Robin Hizme, Queens College, CUNY

Wilson Sherwin, Brooklyn College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Mark Drury, Graduate Center, CUNY

Anton Borst, Hunter College, Graduate Center, CUNY

Jason Schulman, Lehman College, CUNY

Wilma Borrelli, Lehman College, CUNY

Daniel Nieves, City College and Lehman College, CUNY

Maria L. Plochocki, Baruch and College Now, CUNY

Sara Jane Stoner, Graduate Center, CUNY

Anna Gjika, Graduate Center, CUNY

Alicia Andrzejewski, Graduate Center, CUNY

Paul Hebert, Queens College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Patrick Reilly, Baruch College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Kara Van Cleaf, Graduate Center, CUNY

Harry T. Cason, College of Staten Island, CUNY

Kylah Torre, Graduate Center, CUNY

Kate O’Donoghue, Queens College, CUNY

Karen Gregory, City College and Center for Worker Education, CUNY

Michael Friedman, Queens College, CUNY

Heather Heim, Lehman College, CUNY

Austin Bailey, Hunter College, CUNY

Leigh Somerville, Queens College, CUNY

Lindsey Freer, Macaulay Honors College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Lydia Pelot-Hobbs, Graduate Center, CUNY

Nathaniel Sheets,  Hunter College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Jonathan R. Davis, Hunter College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Marga Ryersbach, Queensborough Community College, CUNY

Andrew Akinmoladun, Bronx Community College, CUNY

Thomas Smith, Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY

Tyler T. Schmidt, Lehman College, CUNY

Sarah Davis, Hunter College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Emily Nell, Graduate Center, CUNY

Brenden Beck, Hunter College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Brandon Kreitler, Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY

Aysenur Ataman, College of Staten Island and Graduate Center, CUNY

Anthony Galluzzo, Queens College, CUNY

David Parsons, Baruch College, CUNY

Kelly Eckenrode, Lehman College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Danny Sanchez, Queens College, CUNY

Michelle Chen, Graduate Center, CUNY

Jennifer Hayashida, Hunter College, CUNY

Hayley Figueroa, Brooklyn College,  CUNY

Arto Artinian, Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY

Rebecca Fullan, Graduate Center, CUNY

Aaron Botwick, Graduate Center, CUNY

Gerhard Joseph, Lehman College, CUNY

A.W. Strouse, Hunter College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Casandra Murray, Hunter College, CUNY

Luis H. Francia, Hunter College, CUNY

Noé Dinnerstein, John Jay College, CUNY

Douglas A. Medina, Baruch College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Peter Ranis, Graduate Center, CUNY

Jacquelyn Libby, Baruch College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Saadia Toor, College of Staten Island, CUNY

Howard Pflanzer, Bronx Community College, CUNY

Yvonne Groseil, Hunter College, CUNY

Iziar de Miguel, Graduate Center, CUNY

Jacqueline Libby, Graduate Center, CUNY

Patricia Winter, Graduate Center, CUNY

Lisa Karakaya, Graduate Center, CUNY

Genevieve Waite, Graduate Center, CUNY

Morgan Horowitz, Hunter College, CUNY

Morgan M.X. Schulz, Hunter College and Queens College, CUNY

Anne Donlon, Graduate Center, CUNY

Tom Buechele, Hunter College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Priya Chandrasekaran, Graduate Center, CUNY

Sujatha Fernandes, Queens College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Andy Battle, Graduate Center, CUNY

Tommy Mintz, Queens College and Kingsborough Community College, CUNY

Danielle Abrams, York College and College of Staten Island, CUNY

Tommy Wu, Queens College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Zach Geller, City College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Mary Roldan, Hunter College, CUNY

Natascia Boeri

Jen Tang, Graduate Center, CUNY

Marie Jasmine Narcisse, Graduate Center, CUNY

Tayt J. Harlin, Medgar Evers College, CUNY

Kathleen Rockwell Lawrence, Baruch College

Mariana Goycoechea, Graduate Center

Dana Loev Radu, Graduate Center

Timothy Wilson, Graduate Center

Antoinette Williams-Tutt, Graduate Center

Rupal Oza, Hunter College

Luis Alvarez, Africana & Puerto Rican/Latino Studies, Hunter College

Peter Dudek, Art, Hunter College

Robert Alpert, Film, Hunter College

Brian Herbert, CLT, Hunter College

Sarah Jeninsky, HEO, Hunter College

George Wallace, CLT, Hunter College

Gus Pita, HEO, Hunter College

Tamara Green, Classical & Oriental Studies, Hunter College

Rosa Alicia Ramos, Romance Languages, Hunter College

Maria LaRusso, Queens College presently at Hunter

Wei-Yi Cheng, Classical & Oriental Studies, Hunter College

Mary Anne Cartelli, Classical & Oriental Studies, Hunter College

Maria L. Fischer, Romance Languages, Hunter College

Magdalena Perkowska, Romance Languages, Hunter College

Paul McPherron, English, Hunter College

Lynn McCormick,  Urban Affairs, Hunter College

Melissa Haldeman, HEO, Urban Affairs, Hunter College

Jill Simone Gross, Urban Affairs, Hunter College

Karen Kern, History, Hunter College

Daniel Hurewitz, History, Hunter College

Angelo Angelis, History, Hunter College

Richard Belsky, History, Hunter College

Akiyo Furukawa, Classical & Oriental Studies, Hunter College

Maria Paynter, Romance Languages, Hunter College

Daniela D’Eugenio, Romance Languages, Hunter College [job title unknown]

Wilson Spencer, AFPRL, Hunter College

Claus Mueller, Sociology, Hunter College

Howard Chernick, Economics, Hunter College

Vivette Ancona, Economics, Hunter College

Fatma Cebenoyan, Accounting, Hunter College

Josh Schneiderman, English, Hunter College

Kathie Cheng, English, Hunter College

Elke Nicolai, German, Hunter College

Elizabeth Beaujour, Classical & Oriental Studies, Hunter College

Paolo Fasoli, Romance Languages Classical & Oriental Studies. Hunter College

Meena Alexander, Hunter College and Graduate Center

Jessie Liss, John Jay

Hamad Sindhi, CCNY

Susanna Roos, Graduate Center

Dirk Witteveen, Graduate Center and Queens College

Michael W. Raphael, Graduate Center and John Jay

Pilar Ortiz, Graduate Center

Tom Buechele, Graduate Center and Hunter

Simone Kolysh, Graduate Center and Brooklyn College

Scarlett Lindeman, Graduate Center

Paul Attewell, Graduate Center

Kim Cunningham, Graduate Center

Carlos M. Camacho, Graduate Center

Duygu Basaran Sahin, Graduate Center

Stephen Ruszczyck, Graduate Center

Mary Clare Lennon, Graduate Center

Omar Montana, Graduate Center and Queens College

Daniel Douglas, Graduate Center

Cathy Bork, Graduate Center

Noah Golden, Graduate Center

Sara Martucci, Graduate Center

Rati Kashyap, Graduate Center

Philip Kasinitz, Graduate Center

Dave Monahan, Graduate Center

Vandeen Campbell, Lehman College

Sarah Tosh, Brooklyn College

Tommy Wu, Queens College

Kaleela Munroe, York

Jesse Allen, Graduate Center

Gabriele Cappelleti, Graduate Center

Eric Ketcham, Lehman College

Francesco Crocco, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Racquel Goodison, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Jill Richardson, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Kelly Secovnie, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Adele Kudish, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Carlos Hernandez, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Andrew Levy, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Joe Bisz, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Paul Palven, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Lois Griffith, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Andrew Gottlieb, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Gregory Munna, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Lara Stapleton, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Margarette Connor, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Julie M. Vega, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Rolanda Jorif, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Margaret Claire Pamplin, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Rahmat Tavakol, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Gerald Schoenewolf, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Erica White, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Hemalatha Navaratne, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Charles J. Ray III, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Julius Key, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Jennifer Pinkney-Pastor, Borough of Manhattan Community College

William Roane, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Dan DePaulo, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Ting Lei, Borough of Manhattan Community College

David Caicedo, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Debra Greenwood, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Sheldon Applewhite, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Philip Weisman, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Anastassios Rigopoulos, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Jon Dash, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Cynthia Karasek, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Silvia Alvarez-Olarra, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Eda Henao, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Nidia Pulles-Linares, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Alejandro Varderi, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Kristina Varadi, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Zenon Reynarowych, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Fritz Cornely, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Emmanuel Palav, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Michael Kent, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Barb Ashton, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Estuart Rudin, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Brian Prager, Borough of Manhattan Community College and Hunter College

Juliet Emanuel, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Katherine Figueroa, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Cheryl Brown, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Nora Gold, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Susan Brillhart, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Akemi Nishida, Psych, Graduate Center

Andrew Stout, Math, Graduate Center

Nikita Miasnikov, Math, Graduate Center

Erin McKinney-Prupis, Public Health, Graduate Center

David Harvey, Graduate Center

Alejandro Alonso, Graduate Center and Brooklyn College

Erika Mazzer, Comp Lit, Graduate Center

David Himmelstein, Public Health, Graduate Center

Caroline Loomis, Earth & Environmental Sciences, Graduate Center

Rod Watts, Psych, Graduate Center

Khaled Al Hilli, Graduate Center

Betty Wolder Levin, Health & Nutrition Sciences, Brooklyn College

Diana Soriano, CCNY

Rosa Merola, NYCCT

Astrid Roldan, Lehman College

Greg Houston, Brooklyn College

Spencer Bastedo, Graduate Center

Vishnu Bisram, CUNY

Isa Vásquez, CUNY

Alan Koenig, Poli Sci, Graduate Center

Marissa Brostoff, English, Graduate Center

Bora Ferlengez, Math, Graduate Center

Jeremy Benson, Graduate Center

Ian Fernandopulle, laid off from Brooklyn College

Elan Abrell, Urban Studies, Queens College

Maggie Dickinson, Macaulay

Mikhael Simmonds, CCNY

Rishika Bajaj, Hostos

Aradhana Kumari, Math, Graduate Center

Lauren Suchman, Anthropology, Graduate Center

Erika Suffern, Renaissance Society, CUNY

Andreas Kakolyris, Graduate Center

Scott Fisher, Psych, Hunter College

Nicholas Michelli, Graduate Center

Igor Pikayzen, Music, Graduate Center

Ahmed Shamim, Graduate Center and LAGCC

Purnima Thakur, Graduate Center

Matthew Oyer, Graduate Center

Ashley Chastain, Public Health, Hunter College

Adam McMahon, Poli Sci, Hunter College

Pamela Vossenas, Graduate Center

Anders Wallace, Graduate Center

Stanley Aronowitz, Graduate Center

Fabbio Battista, Comp Lit, Graduate Center

Matilde Fogliani, Comp Lit, Graduate Center

Denisse Andrade, Geography, Graduate Center

James Sevitt, Environmental Psych, Graduate Center

S. Hooiveld, Graduate Center

Sami Al-Dhaheri, Graduate Center

Nancy Berke, LAGCC

Anne Stone, Music, Graduate Center

Juliana Karras-Jean Gilles, Psychology, Graduate Center

Michael Baker, CCNY

Cihan Karabulut, John Jay

Amy Schiller, Graduate Center

Timothy Johnson, Graduate Center and Queens College

Sarah Hesson, Urban Ed, Graduate Center

Agustin Indaco, Graduate Center

Rahul Deshmukh, Physics, Graduate Center

Osmen Dogan, Brooklyn College

Jennifer Wilkinson, Graduate Center

Carl Louis, NYCTC, Brooklyn

Sonia K. González, Public Health, Graduate Center

Lydia Brassard, Queens College

Deborah Gardner, Roosevelt House, Hunter College

Ben Hellwege, Graduate Center

Peggy Suzuki, English, Hunter College

Sara Rutkowski, English, Hunter College

David Winn, English, Hunter College

Fernando Zapata, Philosophy, Hunter College

Allannah Karas, Graduate Center

Gail Elizabeth Korn, English, Hunter College

Consuelo Martinez-Reyes, Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College

Harry Franqui, Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños, Hunter College

José Camacho, Centro, Hunter College

Marilisa Jiménez, Centro, Hunter College

Jose de Jesus, Centro, Hunter College

Kurt Brison, Centro, Hunter College

Alberto Hernández, Centro, Hunter College

James Kielkopf, Centro, Hunter College

Margarita Aguilar, Centro, Hunter College

Francesco Frova, Baruch College

Sanjay Reddy, Graduate Center

Elias J. Theodoracopoulos, Classics, Hunter College

Thomas Chen, Classics, Hunter College

Stephen Wetta, English, Hunter College

Calliope Haritos, Educational Foundations, Hunter College

Kimberly Kinsler, Educational Foundations, Hunter College

Tony Doyle, Library, Hunter College

James Regan, FDA, Hunter College

Elizabeth Sachs, Director, Ed Abroad, Hunter College

Mayra Torres, Asst. Dir., Centro, Hunter College

Noraliz Ruiz, Centro, Hunter College

Xavier Totti, Lehman College

Jack Gantzer, Education and Language Acquisition, LaGuardia

Aaron Hamilton, LaGuardia

Carole Julien, LaGuardia

Debbie Villalón, Coop Ed & Humanities, LaGuardia

George D. Sussman, Social Sciences, LaGuardia

Ana Kosok, ALC, LaGuardia

Viktoria Dudar, LaGuardia

Claudia Baldonedo, LaGuardia

Grace Malijan, LaGuardia

Suzanne Jones, LaGuardia

Howard Motoike, Natural Sciences, LaGuardia

Justin Rogers-Cooper, LaGuardia

Jason Hendrickson, English, LaGuardia

Allia Abdullah-Matta, LaGuardia

Sreca Perukovic, LaGuardia

Abdel Kadik, LaGuardia

Ann Matsuuchi, LaGuardia

Judi O’Toole, Natural Sciences, LaGuardia

Carol Haspel, Natural Sciences, LaGuardia

Faith Armstrong, Natural Sciences, LaGuardia

Rebecca Rivera-Maestre, Health Sciences, LaGuardia

Steve Lang, LaGuardia

Marzena Bugaj, LaGuardia

Silvia Lu, Library, LaGuardia

Alexandra Rojas, Library, LaGuardia

Steven Ovadia, Library, LaGuardia

Muath Obaidat, LaGuardia

Olga Calderón, Natural Sciences, LaGuardia

Cynthia Pierce, Health Sciences, LaGuardia

Maureen Doyle, Health Sciences, LaGuardia

Irene Ofiaza, Health Sciences, LaGuardia

Janette Huang, Health Sciences, LaGuardia

Samuel Kleinplatz, Humanities, LaGuardia

Dora P. Trujillo, LaGuardia/MEC

Dan Roth, LaGuardia

Julian Hernandez, ESL, LaGuardia

Maria Hart, LaGuardia

Sreedevi Ande, LaGuardia

Gordon Crandall, LaGuardia/MEC

Thomas Fink, LaGuardia

Edna Boris, English, LaGuardia

Gordon Tapper, English, LaGuardia

Stafford Gregoire, English, LaGuardia

Dean Kostos, English, LaGuardia

Mikhail A. Valentin, LaGuardia

S. Rosenberg, Health Sciences

R. Ippolito, Health Sciences, LaGuardia

M. O’Shea, Health Sciences, LaGuardia

Guadalupe Delacruz, LaGuardia

Malika Toval, LaGuardia

William Diaz Jr., LaGuardia

Bethany Jacobsen, LaGuardia

Claudia Moreno Parsons, LaGuardia Community College

Christine Marks, LaGuardia Community College

Daniel Lynch, English, LaGuardia Community College

John Silva, English, LaGuardia Community College

Gail Green-Andersen, English, LaGuardia Community College

Kristen Gallagher, LaGuardia Community College

Bethany Holmstrom, English, LaGuardia Community College

Cynthia C. Lam, English, LaGuardia Community College

Charles Perkins, ACE, LaGuardia Community College

Jenny Palios, Health Science, LaGuardia Community College

Jackie Ross, Health Science, LaGuardia Community College

Clarence Chan, Health Science, LaGuardia Community College

Marianne Cu, Health Science, LaGuardia Community College

Varvara Efremova, Health Science, LaGuardia Community College

Khalid Kassou, Math, LaGuardia Community College

Jose L. Araujo, MEC, LaGuardia Community College

Hector Martinez, Math, Bronx Community College and LaGuardia Community College

Lauretta Horton, Writing Center, LaGuardia Community College

Prabha Betne, MEC, LaGuardia Community College

Ali Abdullah, LaGuardia Community College

Gail Buksh-Jarrett, LaGuardia Community College

Monika Ekiert, LaGuardia Community College

Ruhma Choudhury, LaGuardia Community College

James Richardson, LaGuardia Community College

Marrina Dedlovskaya, LaGuardia Community College

N. Goubran, LaGuardia Community College

Richard Brown, LaGuardia Community College

Thomas Onorato, LaGuardia Community College

Arthur Simms, Humanities, LaGuardia Community College

Tim Coogan, Social Science, LaGuardia Community College

Nichole Shippen, Social Science, LaGuardia Community College

Paul Quatinetz, LaGuardia Community College

Christine Caruso, LaGuardia Community College

Christina Stang, LaGuardia Community College

Jai-ne Tilghman, Workforce Education Center, LaGuardia Community College

Michelle Sampson, Workforce Education Center, LaGuardia Community College

Vanessa R. Watson, Program for Deaf Adults, LaGuardia Community College

Yakov Shifrin, Program for Deaf Adults, LaGuardia Community College

David A. Housel, CLIP, ACE, LaGuardia Community College

Molly Fox, Social Worker, LaGuardia Community College

John Chaffee, Humanities, LaGuardia Community College

Marcus D. Allen, Associate Professor, Urban Studies, Guttman Community College

Marcia Edwards, Assistant Professor, Human Services, Guttman Community College

Carolee Ramsay, Guttman Community College

Alia Tyner, Assistant Prof./chap. chair, Guttman Community College

Anthony Gronowicz, Adjunct Assoc. Prof., BMCC

Darren Kwong, Graduate Center

Tanesha Thomas, Graduate Center

Vanessa Paul, Graduate Center

Alice Tzou, Graduate Center

Scott Schwartz, Graduate Center

Samuel Heilman, Queens College (Distinguished Professor of Sociology)

Jesse Goldstein, Hunter College

Margaret Feeley, Adj. Lecturer, English, Kingsborough Community College

John Keller, Adj. Lecturer, English, Kingsborough

Bruce Chadwick, Adj. Professor, English, Kingsborough

Tara Thompson, English, Kingsborough

Eric Rothenberg, Business, Kingsborough

Steven Janowsky, Lecturer, English, Kingsborough

Samantha Sierra, Kingsborough

Reabeka King, Kingsborough

Arelis Martinez, Kingsborough

Marie McGovern, Kinsgborough

Elizabeth Dill, Kingsborough

Sue Carpenter, Asst. Prof., Behavioral Sciences, Kingsborough

Heidi Lopez, Single Stop, Kingsborough

M. Schlesinger, Academic Affairs, Kingsborough

M. Cummings, English, Kingsborough

L. Garland, History, Kingsborough

Y. Solovieva, English, Kingsborough

E. Esdaille, English, Kingsborough

Geraldo Vasquez, Guttman Community College

Ariana Gonzalez Stokas, Guttman Community College

Parviz Kermani, Guttman Community College

Naveen Seth, Guttman Community College

Julie Saltzman, Guttman Community College

 

Additional signatories listed in the comments to this post.

Open Letter to CUNY Union Pres. Barbara Bowen

To sign this letter, leave a comment with your name here. Please include your affiliation, whether CUNY or another institution—all are welcome in this effort to hold the union leadership accountable at the largest university by enrollment in the U.S.! Real democracy now!

Dear Barbara—

I write as a union member and CUNY contingent faculty member to express my great dismay at your statement of May 9th praising Mayor De Blasio for his CUNY budget and singling out “full-time faculty and student support staff” as needing “investments” while entirely omitting mention of adjuncts and graduate student workers.

In addition to the questionable negotiating strategy of such mayoral sycophancy—and your bizarre contention that CUNY is the “solution” to “inequality,” when CUNY reproduces, and contributes to, the inequality of New York City at large—I don’t understand how you could ignore the needs of adjuncts and graduate student workers, who teach the vast majority of classes at CUNY and are the majority of union members and agency-fee payers. Furthermore, I don’t understand how full-time faculty need “investments” more than adjuncts and graduate student workers, who make a pittance compared to full-time faculty, work under worse conditions, and lack job security. What kind of message does this send at negotiating time?

Indeed, it seems to me that any “investments” in faculty the union wins from the city should go to adjuncts and graduate student workers and not to full-time faculty, given the extreme inequality between contingent faculty and full-time—inequality that has occurred in large part because of the priority full-time faculty have received by union leadership since the beginning of the Professional Staff Congress and which, quite evidently, continues under your leadership.

I wish I could say your out-of-touch statement is an aberration, but unfortunately it conforms to the sense so many of us adjuncts and graduate student workers at CUNY have about the union’s neglect of us and our issues. It’s certainly been clear to me in my tenure this academic year as an Adjunct Project coordinator, in which you and your leadership team have either ignored or outright stymied our efforts for greater union representation of adjuncts and graduate student workers and our issues.

Union leadership has been unable to respond to or move forward our simple request from December that adjuncts and graduate student workers have a choice of which chapter to affiliate with; our demands for the bargaining agenda were sat on by you, also since December, until a meeting with my colleagues on April 10th, and we’ve received no follow-up from you, including on your promise to include adjuncts and graduate student workers in the bargaining meetings; and our newly reconstituted Graduate Center chapter—an initiative the Adjunct Project proposed at its October 2013 organizing meeting—contains only two student workers on its slate of 12.

Meanwhile, the UFT deal, which will set a precedent for the rest of the city’s bargaining units, including our own, has been heavily critiqued by the Movement for Rank and File Educators caucus, which is waging a struggle against an entrenched, monopolistic party much like the New Caucus, which commands every (or nearly every) chapter of the PSC. At the moment, I feel more allegiance to MORE than I do to our union, given your De Blasio statement and inaction on the above issues.

I am hoping you will find this letter jarring enough to immediately redress these issues, at least the ones you have full control over: namely, the addition of our demands to the bargaining agenda, the inclusion of adjuncts and graduate student workers in the bargaining meetings, and the change in chapter-affiliation policy.

Furthermore, to enable the participation of CUNY adjuncts and graduate student workers in this summer’s COCAL conference, which is being organized by the PSC and taking place at CUNY’s John Jay College, I ask that the union cover the $250 registration fee for 30 adjuncts and graduate student workers at CUNY.

I look forward to your response, Barbara. If you don’t respond, however, I will not write again, as it shouldn’t be my job to convince you of the merits, ethics, and fairness of genuine union democracy and the concomitant representation of adjuncts and graduate student workers and our needs.

Very sincerely,

Sean M. Kennedy, Graduate Center, CUNY

Elizabeth Sibilia, Graduate Center, CUNY

Wendy Tronrud, Graduate Center, CUNY

Dadland Maye, Graduate Center, CUNY

Öykü Tekten, Graduate Center, CUNY

Erica Kaufman, Institute for Writing & Thinking, Bard College

R. Josh Scannell, Graduate Center, CUNY

Preeti Sampat, Graduate Center, CUNY

Peter Matt, Brooklyn College, CUNY

Margaret Hanzimanolis, City College of San Francisco, De Anza College, Cañada College, California Part-Time Faculty Association

Debangshu Roychoudhury, Graduate Center, CUNY

Jack Longmate, Olympic College

Monique Whitaker, Hunter College, CUNY

Anna Spiro, retired CUNY adjunct

Rafael A. Mutis, Hostos Community College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Jennifer Prince, Graduate Center, CUNY

Esther Bernstein, Graduate Center, CUNY

Héctor Agredano, City College, Bronx Community College, and Graduate Center, CUNY

Collette Sosnowy, JustPublics@365, Graduate Center, CUNY

Megan Paslawski, Graduate Center, CUNY

Kristen Hackett, Graduate Center, CUNY

Fang Xu, Lehman College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Christina Nadler, Graduate Center, CUNY

Kristin Moriah, Graduate Center, CUNY

James Anthony Phillips, Kingsborough Community College, CUNY

Ana M. Fores Tamayo, Adjunct Justice

Tristan K. Husby, City College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Erin Michaels, Graduate Center, CUNY

Cameron Pearson, Queens College, CUNY

David Tillyer, City College, CUNY

Amy Martin, Graduate Center, CUNY

Colin P. Ashley, Doctoral Students’ Council Co-Chair for Business, Graduate Center, CUNY

Ian Foster, Graduate Center, CUNY

Derrick Gentry, alumnus, Graduate Center, CUNY

Melissa Phruksachart, Graduate Center, CUNY

Maureen E. Fadem, Kingsborough Community College, CUNY

Alec Magnet, Graduate Center, CUNY

Erin M. Andersen, Graduate Center, CUNY

Ashna Ali, Graduate Center, CUNY

Jerry Levinsky, Member UALE, COCAL Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor

Michael A. Rumore, Graduate Center, CUNY

Makeba Lavan, Graduate Center, CUNY

Conor Tomás Reed, Medgar Evers College and Graduate Center, CUNY; Free University-NYC

Kathryn Moss, Graduate Center, CUNY

David Spataro, Graduate Center, CUNY

Kenneth H. Ryesky, Queens College, CUNY

Betsy Smith, Cape Cod Community College; member of MCCC, MTA, and NEA

Isabel Cuervo, alumna, Graduate Center, CUNY

Jennifer Chancellor, Graduate Center, CUNY

Luke Elliott, Graduate Center, CUNY

CUNY Adjunct Project

Alan Trevithick, La Guardia Community College, CUNY

Ann Kottner, York College, CUNY

Vanessa Vaile, Precarious Faculty Network

Mary Carroll, Lehman College, CUNY

Linda Neiberg, Baruch College, CUNY

Brian Unger, Graduate Center, CUNY

Ian Green, Graduate Center, CUNY

Eric Lott, Graduate Center, CUNY

John Sorrentino, John Jay College, CUNY

Hulya Sakarya, Mercy College

Allison E. Brown, Graduate Center, CUNY

Rayya El Zein, Medgar Evers College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Melissa K. Marturano, Brooklyn College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Ross Borden, SUNY–Cortland

Frank Reiser, Nassau Community College

Dominique Nisperos, Graduate Center, CUNY

Amanda Matles, Graduate Center, CUNY

Lavelle Porter, City Tech and Graduate Center, CUNY

Lauren Tenley, College of Staten Island and alumna, Graduate Center, CUNY

Mary N. Taylor, Graduate Center, CUNY

Edwin Mayorga, Graduate Center, CUNY

Charlotte Thurston, Graduate Center, CUNY

Robin Hizme, Queens College, CUNY

Sue Clark-Wittenberg, Director, International Campaign to Ban Electroshock

Wilson Sherwin, Brooklyn College and Graduate Center, CUNY

James D. Hoff, Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY

Mark Drury, Graduate Center, CUNY

Anton Borst, Hunter College, Graduate Center, CUNY

Jason Schulman, Lehman College, CUNY

Wilma Borelli, Lehman College, CUNY

Daniel Nieves, City College and Lehman College, CUNY

Elizabeth Bidwell Goetz, Hunter College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Maria L. Plochocki, Baruch and College Now, CUNY

Sara Jane Stoner, Graduate Center, CUNY

Anna Gjika, Graduate Center, CUNY

Alicia Andrzejewski, Graduate Center, CUNY

Paul Hebert, Queens College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Patrick Reilly, Baruch College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Kara Van Cleaf, Graduate Center, CUNY

Harry T. Cason, College of Staten Island, CUNY

Kylah Torre, Graduate Center, CUNY

Kate O’Donoghue, Queens College, CUNY

Keith Hoeller, editor, Equality for Contingent Faculty; co-founder, Washington Part-Time Faculty Association

Karen Gregory, City College and Center for Worker Education, CUNY

Michael Friedman, Queens College, CUNY

Heather Heim, Lehman College, CUNY

Marnie Weigle, San Diego City College

Austin Bailey, Hunter College, CUNY

Leigh Somerville, Queens College, CUNY

Lindsey Freer, Macaulay Honors College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Lydia Pelot-Hobbs, Graduate Center, CUNY

Nathaniel Sheets, CUNY Graduate Center, Hunter College

Brianne Bolin, Columbia College Chicago

Sean Collins, trustee, Troy Area Labor Council

Meyer A. Rothberg, alumnus (1958), City College, CUNY

John Martin, chair, California Part-time Faculty Association

Jonathan R. Davis, Hunter College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Marga Ryersbach, Queensborough Community College, CUNY

Andrew Akinmoladun, Bronx Community College, CUNY

Thomas Smith, Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY

Tyler T. Schmidt, Lehman College, CUNY

Sarah Davis, Hunter College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Reid Friedson, Adjunct Faculty Union

Emily Nell, Graduate Center, CUNY

Jack Henning

Vakhtang Gomelauri, Global Center for Advanced Studies

Brenden Beck, Hunter College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Brandon Kreitler, Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY

Alex Kudera, author, Fight for Your Long Day, Clemson University

Aysenur Ataman, College of Staten Island and Graduate Center, CUNY

Anthony Galluzzo, Queens College, CUNY

Jenna Gibbs, Florida International University

Ryan Daley, former NYCCT adjunct; Red Hook Initiative

David Parsons, Baruch College

Rebecca Schuman, all-purpose higher-ed loudmouth

Daniel Levine, alumnus (2013), Baruch College; writer

Stanley W. Rogouski

Kelly Eckenrode, Lehman College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Danny Sanchez, Queens College, CUNY; member, Revolutionary Student Coordinating Committee

Michelle Chen, Graduate Center, CUNY

Carol Lipton

Michael Pollak

Aaron Botwick, Graduate Center, CUNY

Naja Berg Hougaard, Graduate Center, CUNY

Gerhard Joseph, Lehman College, CUNY

Catherine Liu, alumna, Graduate Center, CUNY; University of California–Irvine

Emma Myers, Borough of Manhattan Community College and City Tech, CUNY

Marimer Berberena, Hostos Community College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Seth Sanders, Trinity College

Evgeniya Koroleva, Graduate Center, CUNY

Johannes Burgers, Queensborough Community College, CUNY

Angelina Tallaj-Garcia, Graduate Center, CUNY

Alexander Chee

Sansanee Sermprungsuk

Angelo R. Dicuonzo, Baruch College, CUNY

Lisa Regula Meyer, Kent State University

Sonia Maldonado, Hostos Community College, CUNY

Natalie Yasmin Soto, alumna (‘09) Hunter College, former adjunct, Medgar Evers College, CUNY; NYC public high school teacher

Thomas Mintz, Queens College and Kingsborough Community College, CUNY

Gabrielle Kappes, Graduate Center, CUNY

Ralitsa Todorova, Graduate Center, CUNY

Leonard Dick

Joseph Brisendine, Graduate Center, CUNY

Alexander Baldassano, Hunter College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Sarah Tosh, Brooklyn College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Mark Miller, Hunter College, CUNY

Stephanie M. Anderson, Graduate Center, CUNY

Cynthia Thompson, Baruch College, CUNY

Sounak Ghosh Roy, Queens College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Cat Chenal, City College, CUNY

Melissa J. Silvestrini, Queens College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Doug Singsen, alumnus, CUNY

Chet Jordan, Guttman Community College, CUNY

Harminder Kaur, CUNY

Rebecca Traynor, Graduate Center, CUNY

Hilarie Ashton, Queens College and Graduate Center, CUNY

Marisha Chinsky, spouse of CUNY adjunct/PhD student

Gustavo Gomez, Graduate Center, CUNY

Robert Ausch, Hunter College, CUNY

Debra Jenks, New Jersey City University

Ozge Savas, University of Michigan

Konstantinos Pouliasis, Hunter College and Graduate Center, CUNY

David Palazzo, alumnus, Graduate Center, adjunct, York College, CUNY

L. E. Hunter, University of Michigan

Arnaud Gerspacher, Graduate Center, CUNY

Nozomi Kato, Medgar Evers College, CUNY

Marianna Shvartsapel, CunyStart, LaGuardia Community College, CUNY

Jeremy Rayner, Hunter College, CUNY

Aaron Barlow, City Tech, CUNY

Leslie Shaw, CUNY

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